Awardee: Alan Haenga O'Brien (Ngāti Porou), Massey University
The Awardee will undertake the Whakaaweawe Impact and Transformation Grant titled Kia kārohirohi te wairua: Empowering rangatahi Māori and their whānau to understand, nurture, and practise wairuatanga to support wellbeing.
This project builds upon insights from a doctoral study that explored how rangatahi (aged 20 29) understand, experience, nurture, and practise wairuatanga to support their wellbeing. The research identified the important role that wairua plays in the lives of rangatahi and their ability to nourish their mauri and wairua. However, it also highlighted a lack of access to and tikanga wairua (spiritual knowledge and practices), and to practitioners, as a major barrier for rangatahi in developing their wairuatanga and nurturing wellbeing. Aims and objectives of the project: This project aims to: 1. Generate further discussions about the role of wairuatanga in rangatahi wellbeing. 2. Share and disseminate and research findings about wairuatanga in ways that are culturally meaningful, accessible, and engaging for rangatahi. This will be done through developing a resource booklet and hosting community and online presentations that will: -share key research findings to empower rangatahi, their and communities to normalise, reclaim, and safely engage with wairuatanga to promote intergenerational healing through the reclamation of knowledge and practices;-support rangatahi, their communities, and other stake holders (e.g., mental health practitioners and service providers) with a deeper understanding of the role of wairua in health and wellbeing;-inspire conversations about the role of communities and key stake holders in supporting and providing pathways for rangatahi to access mahi wairua and -highlight factors and pathways that enable wairua to flourish, along with barriers that inhibit engagement with and tikanga wairua; and-contribute to systemic change by advocating for the integration of and tikanga wairua and into healthcare provision.